John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan was born in 1944 in Kabba, Kogi State in Central Nigeria, and he is a member of the Yoruba ethnic group. In 1980 Pope John Paul II. appointed him member of the International Theological Commission. Four years later, he became bishop of Ilorin (the capital of the Nigerian State Kwara). After the founding of the Archdiocese of Abuja in 1994, he became its first archbishop and remained in office until 2019. Pope Benedict XVI appointed him cardinal in 2012, which allowed him to vote in the conclave in March 2013, during which Pope Francis was elected. However, the name Onaiyekana was also mentioned several times in connection with the highest position of the Catholic Church. At present, the cardinal is fully engaged in his main theme, dialogue across religious groups and reconciliation between the Christian and Muslim sections of Nigerian society. One of the main tools of these efforts is the Cardinal Onaiyekan Foundation for Peace (COFP).

Cardinal Onaiyekan visited the Czech Republic in 2018 on the initiative of the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Abuja and at the invitation of Archbishop of Prague, Dominik Duka. During the visit, he agreed with the bishop of the Pilsen diocese, Tomáš Holub, to send two Nigerian priests to study Czech and Central European religion in the Czech Republic. While they will be studying, both priests will also perform pastoral activities in the parishes of the Pilsen diocese. Cardinal preached, among other things, during the annual remembrance of the persecuted "Mene Tekel" in St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague.

Cooperation with Cardinal John Onaiyekan directly in Abuja was developed by the Czech Embassy under the leadership of Ambassador Marek Skolil. In addition to supporting the sending of two clergy to the Pilsen diocese, the so-called small local projects, financed from the Foreign Development Agency of the Czech Republic, were implemented in collaboration with the Cardinal Onaiyekan Peace Foundation in 2019-2020. The money allocated was used, for example, to build toilets in a camp for internally displaced people from areas plagued by the terrorist organization Boko Haram, to educate young people or to build wells for poor village communities.

Both priests, Pater Timothy Asongu and Pater Emmanuel Onuma, arrived in the Czech Republic in October 2019. They immediately took an intensive Czech language course to be prepared for both future studies and their pastoral work in the parishes of the Pilsen diocese. They went through the difficulties and pitfalls of studying the Slavic language and liturgical texts as well as a long period of distance learning during the quarantine measures this spring.

In the autumn of 2020, both priests will begin their studies in the master's course "European Cultural Studies" at the Faculty of Arts of the University of West Bohemia. Pater Onuma was assigned as an auxiliary clergyman to the Parish of Klatovy, Pater Asongu will remain in Pilsen in the Parish of St. Bartholomew.

Nigerian clergy are involved in life both in and around the Pilsen diocese. In mid-August, they took part in the consecration of the Marian Column in the Old Town Square in Prague and the celebration of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary on the Holy Mountain in Příbram. Before last Christmas, believers could see them again in the St. Vitus Cathedral, at the Bethlehem Light event or at the Virgin Mary the Victorious, ie "At the Infant Jesus of Prague", whose cult is widespread in many countries, including Nigeria itself.

After returning to Nigeria, Pater Asongu and Pater Onuma will be able to use their experience from Central Europe in their pastoral efforts to develop Africa's most populous country.

On Friday, September 11, 2020, a mention of the work of Nigerian clergy in the Czech Republic also appeared in Czech National TV News.